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Addar Cultural & Conference Center
Located in the heart of the old city of Bethlehem and the up-to-date facilities, ad-Dar Cultural and Conference Centeris a unique place for local, national and international concerts, theatre, film...

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Protest the "Apartheid Wall" - Palestine Monitor Maps and Photos of the Israeli Separation Wall Protest the "Apartheid Wall" - Palestine Monitor Maps and Photos of the Israeli Separation Wall
Palestine Diaries
courtesy The Electronic Intifada

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Daniel Barenboim [right] frequently uses his music to challenge fellow Israelis - BBC, AP photo

EI: Human Rights
courtesy The Electronic Intifada

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Daniel Barenboim (top) and Edward Said
Daniel Barenboim (top) and Edward Said

Said's work towards artistic cooperation celebrated in music performance memorial
Maureen Clare Murphy, Electronic Intifada, October 16, 2003

When I was in grade school, my aunt hosted a Japanese woman to stay with her in our suburban town as part of a cultural exchange program. The young Japanese woman visited my house and, although we were unable to have a conversation, as her English was weak and my Japanese nonexistent, we were able to sit at the piano together and play a duet. One could say that musical notation is itself a kind of language, but it is now clear to me that we did not merely share a musical conversation. Though the experience did not seem revelatory at the time, and my clunky musical ability was unremarkable, we accomplished something more significant: artistic cooperation.

However, there were no political tensions between myself and the Japanese woman, like there would be between Israeli and Arab musicians, as Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim witnessed during their West-Eastern Divan workshop. The West-Eastern Divan workshop, which gathers outstanding young musicians from Israel and Arab countries, and puts them together into one orchestra, gives an opportunity for youth to produce something together. The goal is not to save the peace process, or to have the musicians hold hands and be best friends. Instead, national identities like Lebanese, Palestinian, Russian, Israeli, and Egyptian are replaced as these musicians "suddenly became cellists and violinists playing the same piece in the same orchestra under the same conductor," as Said explains in Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society, which he co-wrote with Barenboim. more..


Al-Fawanees - The first musical in Palestine
Press Release, National Conservatory of Music, August 5, 2004

Based on Ghassan Kanafani's book, Al-Qandeel Al-Saghir (The Little Lantern), Al-Fawanees is the first ever musical to debut in Palestine of such magnitude. Kanafani, whose vision and writings inspired thousands to create and dream, wrote and illustrated this first children's novel for his niece Lamees whom he adored for one of her birthdays, before the two of them were the target of an Israeli assassination in Beirut in 1972, where both their lives were forever immortalized.

Palestinian boys and girls rehearing for the Al-Fawanees musical at the Ramallah Cultural Complex in Ramallah city, West bank. A musical produced & directed by the Palestinian musician Suheil Khoury. (Steve Sabella Photo Gallery - http://www.sabellaphoto.com/theater11a.htm)
Palestinian boys & girls rehearing for the Al-Fawanees musical at the Ramallah Cultural Complex in Ramallah city, West bank. A musical produced & directed by the Palestinian musician Suheil Khoury. (Steve Sabella Photo Gallery - http://www.sabellaphoto.com/theater11a.htm)

The Little Lantern is a story about a king who dies, leaving his only daughter an heiress to the throne. He leaves his will with the wise man in the castle, which instructs his daughter that in order to become the queen of the kingdom, she has to bring the sun into the castle before the candle melts. The princess, being young, thought that she would be able to catch the sun and carry it on her back to the castle. She tries many ways, but to no avail. She later locks herself in her room, and on the eighth day, finds a note under her door, saying that by locking herself in, she will never find a solution. She tries to find out who wrote the note, but fails. Then one night, an old man carrying a lantern knocks at the gates of the castle, but the head of the guards forbid him entry, to which he says, "If you do not allow an old man with a lantern to come into the castle, how do you expect the sun to enter?" The princess hears of this, and immediately orders the head of the guards to find the man. Not knowing who it was, they ordered all those people carrying lanterns in the kingdom to come forth. Thousands of people flock to the gates, which are too small to allow all those people in, forcing the soldiers to tear down the walls, allowing entrance to the people. When all crowd in, the light emanating from the lanterns is brighter than the sun's light, and as such the sun enters the castle. With the bricks of the walls, schools, institutes and hospitals are built, and the kingdom becomes a happy nation. more.. 

 
 

More about Music from our Archives..
Homes for the Disembodied, by Mary Tuma, 2000, 50 continuous yards of silk, 13'x25'. (Electronic Intifada/Made in Palestine)

Naseer Shamma and the music of resistance
Electronic Intifada: 4 Feb 2010 - Celebrated Iraqi musician Naseer Shamma plays emotive compositions in beautiful tones on the oud to major audiences across the Middle East, stirring musical reflections on human realities in US-occupied Iraq. Although Iraqi current affairs are clearly interwoven into Shamma's sound, it is also unique musical talent that has earned Shamma a reputation as one of the world's preeminent oud players. Stefan Christoff profiles Shamma for The Electronic Intifada.


Said conservatory preps for national competition
2/2/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music invited Palestinian youth from the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights to participate in their third national music competition. From 2001-2005 the conservatory hosted internal competitions annually, and in 2006 they opened the spectacle to a national body of musicians, hosting the event biennially. The 2008 competition was the first to include voice. A statement from conservatory officials said the competition "aims at encouraging young musicians and music students to improve their musical performance and at enriching the musical culture in Palestine as a whole. "Mohamad Maragha, the activity coordinator at the conservatory, said the event was the only one of its kind in Palestine, bringing together multiple facets of Palestinian music from all parts of Palestine.


Exhibition "Palestine is beautiful - Innovation picture .. .. the article explicitly and realistic
1 Feb 2010 - West Bank, February 01, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) -Sharek Youth Forum opened in cooperation with the French-German Cultural Center yesterday, the exhibition "Palestine pretty" pictures, films, writings, and music of the Middle Eastern media Bags Curzon Hall last Ramallah, which will continue until 15 February, the exhibits presented during the festival Binali Clermont Veareran "codes for a trip travel" in France....


TWENTY-TWO HOURS IN SHEIKH JARRAH
Palestine Monitor - 18 Jan 2010 - January 14, 2010: a concert in Sheikh Jarrah featuring the politically-charged musical groups DAM and System Ali. January 15, 2010: the weekly demonstration against house evictions at the same location. The problem: only one permit for public gatherings was issued for the week. The result: mass...


From now on, only Israeli music to be played at schools
Ha'aretz 13 Jan 2010 - Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar (Likud) Tuesday instructed school principals to play only Israeli music over loudspeakers to mark study breaks and to use Israeli songs more frequently in school ceremonies. ...


Record numbers crowd Bethlehem for New Year’s
1/2/2010 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - Bethlehem's halls and restaurants were filled New Year's Eve with an estimated 10,000 out of town visitors from all parts of the West Bank, and the city's Manger Square was full of celebrators though no official event had been arranged. Tickets for private parties in dozens of Bethlehem hotels were sold out, celebrations in Beit Sahour and Beit Jala were also full. Parties had guests from Hebron in the south, Ramallah in the center, Nablus, Qalqiliya, and Jenin in the north as well as Nazareth, Haifa and Jerusalem. For the first time, Bethlehem residents saw street parties, concentrated in Manger Square, where locals and international tourists and pilgrims celebrated and danced to music spontaneously pumped out of car speakers and phones. Police were caught off guard by the large numbers in the street, and huge ammounts of traffic turning Bethlehem streets into parking lots in the hours around midnight.


[uruknet.info] Israeli Arab MK: Barak enjoys classical music and killing Gaza children
Uruknet January 1, 2010 - Some 1,000 people, among them all of Israel's Arab MKs and community leaders, gathered Thursday at the Israeli side of the Gaza border to express solidarity with the residents of Gaza, one year after Israel's offensive there. MK Taleb A-Sana relayed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's message to the Israeli side via a mobile phone. During the...


Hundreds celebrate Christmas Mass in Bethlehem
YNet News 25 Dec 2009 - Palestinian worshippers, pilgrims gather in Jesus' traditional birthplace to celebrate Christian holiday. 'It's interesting seeing the dichotomy of religions, nationalities mixing together. There's a lot of respect for each other,' says young American musician visiting holy city for first time


Manger Square celebrations a party for all
12/25/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - After Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal lead dozens of scouts through Bethlehem's Star Street and into Manger Square, families milled around the Old City, enjoying carols, hot corn, roasted nuts and cotton candy. Kids of all ages and visitors from all corners of the West Bank joined pilgrims and dignitaries for the live music under the glow of thousands of Christmas lights. Palestinians of every faith shared in the sounds of artists from around the world, preferring dance rhythms to the mournful songs, many penned in the honor of peace for Palestine. Khalid, selling hot cardamon coffee to revelers in the square, rolled his eyes at one artist, telling his customers to "make peace happen. ""We forget about the occupation today, it's a party; we are here to have fun," he said. Dancers took the break as songs for peace in Spanish rippled across the open air venue,. . .


Bethlehem gets first Christmas rock concert
PNN 23 Dec 2009 - BETHLEHEM, West Bank — O Come All Ye Faithful to Bethlehem's first Christmas rock festival. A young musician who grew up near Jesus' traditional birthplace feels the old-fashioned way of marking the holiday — hanging around Manger Square and listening to carols — is a little dull.So Emmanuel Fleckenstein has organized a three-day battle of the bands that he hopes will attract...


[uruknet.info] JORDAN: Palestinian Refugees Live Out Lives in Limbo
Uruknet December 22, 2009 - Music enlivens the yellow taxi as it traverses the Jordanian capital. A small Palestinian flag hangs from the rearview mirror. Jihad, the cab driver, says his father fled here from the Palestinian West Bank in 1948. "Thank God almighty, life is good for me here and I can offer my family a decent life," he says. "...


JORDAN: Palestinian Refugees Live Out Lives in Limbo
IPS AMMAN, Dec 21 (IPS) - Music enlivens the yellow taxi as it traverses the Jordanian capital. A small Palestinian flag hangs from the rearview mirror. Jihad, the cab driver, says his father fled here from the Palestinian West Bank in 1948.


Palestinian refugees in Jordan live out their lives in constant 'temporary' limbo
Daily Star 22 Dec 2009 Music enlivens the yellow taxi as it traverses the Jordanian capital. A small Palestinian flag hangs from the rearview mirror. Jihad, the cab driver, says his father fled here from the Palestinian West Bank in 1948. "Thank God almighty, life is good for me here and I can offer my family a decent life," he says. "While my father was Palestinian, I feel today Jordanian and I hold the Jordanian nationality.


Israeli repression of Palestinian celebrations in the heart of Jerusalem
12/19/2009 - International Solidarity Movement - 17 December - A spectacular and proud celebration of Palestinian and Arab culture in Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday, December 17, 2009, was brutally repressed by Israeli military and police. A rare celebration of Palestinian and Arab culture in Jerusalem's Old City started around 10:30am on Thursday, December 17, 2009, with a group of musicians leading a march from Damascus Gate to the very center of the Old City, attracting marchers and cheers from merchants and shoppers along the route. Thursday's celebrations served not only as a reassertion of Palestinian identity in occupied Jerusalem, but also as a local closing event for Jerusalem as Capital of Arab Culture for 2009. The official closing ceremony, however, was held in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, that afternoon, since the Israeli government has prohibited such expressions of Palestinian identity and culture in the areas under its immediate military control, which include Jerusalem.


True Sound of Palestine
PNN 8 Dec 2009 - Khaled Jubran was born in Galilee in 1961. After studying Musicology,Music theory and Composition, and teaching at Jerusalem's Rubin Academy, in 1994 he founded and headed the Arabic music department of the Palestinian National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah as well as being a member of its Oriental Music Ensemble. In 2001, he founded the Urmawi Centre for Mashriq Music, named after...


Is Angelina Jolie sponsoring Jordanian orphans?
Ha'aretz 9 Dec 2009 - Famous actress and philanthropist Angelina Jolie has been secretly supporting seven Jordanian children and is considering buying them a house, Contact music website reported on Wednesday. ...


Olive harvest concludes with festival, new report
12/6/2009 - Stop The Wall - Several weeks ago, the olive harvest concluded with a festival in the Nablus area village of Burin. Under the banner “our enemies are the settlements and our path is resistance”, the festival celebrated the end of the harvest with traditional dance and music from local groups and a number of speakers. Both party representatives as well as grassroots activists attended the festival, where they praised farmers and their steadfastness (sumud) in the face of the ongoing assault by soldiers and settlers. The settlers near Burin are especially infamous, meaning the village is attacked frequently; last month 1,200 trees were burned or cut by settlers, and 3,000 faced the same fate the month before. Speakers then turned to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), demanding that it take up its responsibility to protect and support the farmers. -- Link: Download the Olive Harvest 2009 report (PDF)


UN uses speeches, photo exhibit and concert to voice solidarity with Palestinians
11/30/2009 - United Nations - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Riyad H. Mansour of the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine30 November 2009 – The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is being observed today at United Nations Headquarters in New York with a special commemorative meeting, a new photographic exhibition and a concert by Maqamat, an orchestra of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. Addressing today’s meeting, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that it is vital that a sovereign State of Palestine is achieved, noting that the Palestinian people continue to struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination – a fundamental, universal human right enjoyed by so many others across the world. “Vigorous international efforts are essential for advancing the political process, ending the occupation and achieving a solution to all permanent status issues,” he stated.


Greek football delegation concludes Palestine tour
11/29/2009 - Bethlehem - Ma'an - A Greek delegation of veteran footballers and musicians left the occupied Palestinian territories on Saturday evening, following a week of events and visits organized by the Greek organization Struggle Until Victory Forever. The delegation included Greek singer Vasilis Lekkas and a number of Greece's members of parliament. On Thursday, a friendly football match was held between veteran Palestinian and Greek footballers at the Feisal Husseini Stadium in Ar-Ram, the Palestinian team winning 3-1. The Greek delegation toured Palestinian refugee camps and the Israeli Separation Wall, in addition to late President Yasser Arafat's grave in Ramallah, where they placed flowers. A tour of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was postponed on Friday until the afternoon, as the Struggle Until Victory, Forever delegation participated in the Bil'in and Ni'lin protests against Israel's Separation Wall.


Residents of Sheikh Jarrah hold Eid al-Adha prayers and demonstrations against ethnic cleansing and house evictions
11/29/2009 - International Solidarity Movement - 27 November - On Friday 27 November 2009, the Eid al-Adha celebration in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, was marked by prayers and demonstrations. In the night unto Eid, the sleep in the neighbourhood was disturbed at 2am by loud music coming from a street party attended by Jewish settler youths, who gathered outside the Shimon HaTzadik Tomb, located just behind the Palestinian houses. This is the same location from which Jewish settlers threw stones at the Palestinian houses in the middle of the night on Friday 6 November. The disturbing music was played for 30 minutes until the police blue-lights drew near. At 7am, the Palestinian families gathered in an open field in the neighbourhood to hold the traditional Eid Friday prayer. The prayer was led by Sheikh Raed Salah, an influential and well known imam, who in his speech talked about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948, 1967, and until present.


VIDEO - Ctrl Alt Shift Film Competition Winner No Way Through
11/24/2009 - YouTube - Written and Directed by: Alexandra Monro + Sheila Menon, Mentor: Jim Threapleton, Music: The Thirst -- No Way Through highlights mobility restrictions imposed in the West Bank, that are limiting its habitants access to health care, thus violating a fundamental human right. Take Action to help people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories get justice. -- Links: Ambulances Denied Access to Neighborhoods in E. Jerusalem without Police Escort [end]


Burin celebrates successful olive harvest, despite numerous settler attacks
11/19/2009 - International Solidarity Movement - 18 November 2009 - On Wednesday 18 November, the village of Burin (south of Nablus) celebrated the successful conclusion of its olive harvest. More than 400 villagers came together to hear speeches by locals and nationally renowned politicians (including member of Knesset Mohammed Baraka, general secretary of Hadash), as well as to see the young men of the village dance the Dabke, the traditional dance of Palestine. A large stage with sound system had been set up outside the local boys' school and the festivities commenced at around 11am. Braving weather that seemed to change every 5 minutes from pleasantly warm to freezing cold, the villagers listened to speeches and music in clear view from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, one that has caused its fair share of problems for the village during the harvest. Only 6 days before the event, settlers from Yitzhar attacked the fields of Burin, cutting down 97 trees.


The families of Palestinian prisoners say they will never give up hope.

Gilad jazz in support of Palestinian plight
John Lewis - LONDON, Middle East Online 3/7/2009

Israeli artist - one of London’s finest saxophonists - takes Palestinian cause with him on British tour - Manic Beat Preacher - A few days before I meet Gilad Atzmon, he finds himself at the centre of an international storm. The prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan, has approvingly cited Atzmon during a debate with Israeli president Shimon Peres. "Atzmon, a Jew himself," said Erdoǧan, "says that Israeli barbarity is far beyond even ordinary cruelty. "Ever since, Atzmon has been getting 200 emails a day, his BlackBerry is constantly buzzing and his words are being debated by hundreds of bloggers around the world. Atzmon is revelling in the attention. "A world leader quoting an artist? " he laughs. "Isn’t that incredible? Not a singer, not even a fucking pianist, but a stupid fucking saxophonist! Ha!" It may come as a surprise to some that Atzmon is a saxophonist at all. His career as a musician has long been drowned out by the clatter of his extra-curricular activities:. . . more.. e-mail


Lebanese composer Mansour Rahbani dies
Middle East Online 1/13/2009

BEIRUT - Lebanese composer and musician Mansour Rahbani, 83, a well-known figure in the Arab world, died on Tuesday following a long illness, Lebanon’s national news agency announced. Rahbani was the brother-in-law of Lebanese singing diva Fairuz, for whom he composed many poems and songs along with his brother Assi. [end]


Haredi listeners fear séance involved in album production
Yoav Friedman, YNetNews 12/9/2008

(Audio) New CD featuring digitally mastered tracks based on old recordings of dead cantors prompt concern among buyers fearing producers ’raised the dead’ to record album - AUDIO - A recently released album containing songs performed by legendary cantors has been causing turmoil among the ultra-Orthodox community due to the simple fact that the performers are all dead. Record company AMC, which produced the album titled "In Those Days, At This Season," used old recordings, had the sound digitally improved and added background music performed by a philharmonic orchestra. This process of audio manipulation has apparently disturbed many buyers, who flooded the company with questions and complaints: "How is it that the cantor knows to wait for the orchestra? There must be some sort of spell here - is this séance? Does the Halacha allow tampering with the voices of. . . more.. e-mail


The microphone is the weapon
Noam Ben-Zeev, Ha’aretz 12/4/2008

BETHLEHEM, the end of November - "The European-Palestinian Hip Hop Tour" arrives after gigs in Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah. At 7 P. M. the Al Nadwa Cultural Center is already buzzing. Palestinian-German rapper Wassim Taha, aka Massive, is thrilling the audience, Palestinian-Danish rapper Mohammad Marwan, aka Marwan - symbolically dressed like an injured person, using crutches - both sings and moderates the evening and also talks on the phone to PR, the Gazan rapper who was not allowed to leave the Strip to join the concert. Everyone is waiting for the international star, Shadia Mansour - the British Palestinian who mixes rock and Arab folk music and whose voice shifts from hard rap to nearly operatic lyricism. Her coming on stage is greeted by huge applause and her set has everyone dancing. more.. e-mail


VIDEO - Gaza hip-hop trio overcomes many obstacles to transmit music to world
Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 11/26/2008

Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for November 25, 2008 Three young Gaza residents harboring no small amount of frustration have found a creative outlet to transmit their message to the world. The three comprise "Black Unit Band," a hip-hop trio making music in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, not always the friendliest breeding ground for Western culture. But even getting music made depends on Israel’s goodwill. The studio in which Black Unit Band was recording their first album closed down recently due to power outages, brought on by Israel’s refusal to let fuel into the coastal territory. But they plan on heading back to the studio soon, and there’s no doubt that current events will continue to provide excellent fodder for new material. more.. e-mail


Mahmoud Darwish Commemorated in London
Mamoon Alabbasi - London, Palestine Chronicle 11/7/2008

’Darwish’s vision lives on after his death. ’The life and works of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish were celebrated in London Monday in a special event that paid tribute to the renowned Arab writer. The event, organised by Exiled Writers Ink, included readings from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and other poets, literary analyses of some of his work, a short musical piece, and a documentary extract. Wasting little time on prose, Fathieh Saudi, poet and chair of Exiled Writers Ink, recited verses of Darwish’s poetry at the intervals when presenting each participant. A poem by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter in memory of Mahmoud Darwish was read on his behalf by Joanna Carolan, a writer and performer. The poem, entitled ’Death’, ended with:Did you wash the dead body Did you close both its eyes Did you bury the body Did you leave it abandoned Did you kiss the dead body The more.. e-mail


’Riot grrrl’ fuses feminism with Zionism in pioneering publication
Raphael Ahren, Ha’aretz 11/7/2008

Hadass Ben-Ari is not the first Anglo to move to Jerusalem because she "fell in love" with Israel during a short-term visit. But while most other Jews her age come to the capital to study or to work for a Jewish organization, the 26-year-old Ben-Ari spends her time publishing Fallopian Falafel, "the first and only Jerusalem-based feminist zine, bringing riot grrrl culture to the holy land. ""Riot grrrl" is no typo but an underground feminist punk/heavy metal movement that started in America in the early 1990s. Besides being a music scene, the riot grrrl subculture consists of political activism and a spirit of DIY (Do it yourself), which includes the publication of so-called zines (short for fanzine) - non-commercial pamphlets with small circulations. "It was mostly a self defense mechanism," Ben-Ari said in explaining how she got involved with the movement as a 22-year-old journalism student while living with her parents in Canada. more.. e-mail


Mahmoud Darwish commemorated in London
Mamoon Alabbasi – LONDON, Middle East Online 11/6/2008

The life and works of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish were celebrated in London Monday in a special event that paid tribute to the renowned Arab writer. The event, organised by Exiled Writers Ink, included readings from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and other poets, literary analyses of some of his work, a short musical piece, and a documentary extract. Wasting little time on prose, Fathieh Saudi, poet and chair of Exiled Writers Ink, recited verses of Darwish’s poetry at the intervals when presenting each participant. A poem by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter in memory of Mahmoud Darwish was read on his behalf by Joanna Carolan, a writer and performer. The poem, entitled ‘Death’, ended with: Did you wash the dead body Did you close both its eyes Did you bury the body Did you leave it abandoned Did you kiss. . . more.. e-mail


You can’t say no to peace
Noam Ben Zeev, Ha’aretz 10/8/2008

Musicians from 70 leading orchestras and 40 countries, including someIsraelis from local orchestras and even one Palestinian, will gather here to perform for a symbolic fee, under the heading "A message of peace to Israel and the Middle East. "By playing "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" by Berliner Felix Mendelssohn and works by Viennese composer Gustav Mahler and contemporary British composer Roxanna Panufnik, they will reflect the "unique strength of music as an ambassador of peace," according to the man who founded the orchestra in 1993, legendary conductor Georg Solti. What is there about classical music that causes it to serve repeatedly as a symbol of peace and brotherhood? According to the cliche, since music is an abstract art and lacks all elements of representation such as visuals or ideas (and in the opinion of composer Igor Stravinsky even emotions), it is capable of bridging cultural differences. more.. e-mail


Tag Rugby Match at Taybeh Oktoberfest
Maria C. Khoury – Taybeh, West Bank, Palestine Chronicle 10/2/2008

’The Taybeh Oktoberfest is a two days event promoting local products with music and dance groups. ’The community of Taybeh, in the West Bank is going to keep its leading role this year by continuing to make history in Palestine. Along with introducing the first Palestinian non-alcoholic beer at the 2008 Oktoberfest, Taybeh will also host the first time ever Tag Rugby Match in Palestine between the Ramallah Blue Snakes and Beit Jala Lions RFC at 1 pm on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at the Taybeh Soccer Field, North entrance of Taybeh. If you like to see amazing and extraordinary things just come to Taybeh. As a side note, October 12th was the first Oktoberfest ever held in the world in Bavaria in 1810. The first Rugby Club in Palestine was founded in October 2007 in Beit Jala when a group of young men set up the first Palestinian Rugby Team ( www. more.. e-mail


Rugby and local products in Taybeh
Palestine News Network 10/2/2008

Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D. - The community of Taybeh is continuing to make history in Palestine this year with the first tag rugby match planned for Oktoberfest. Music and local products will be part of the celebration. Along with introducing the first Palestinian non alcoholic beer at the 2008 Oktoberfest, Taybeh will also host the first time ever Tag Rugby Match in Palestine between the Ramallah Blue Snakes and Beit Jala Lions RFC at 1 pm on Sunday, 12 October 12 at the Taybeh Soccer Field, North entrance of Taybeh. The first Rugby Club in Palestine was founded in October 2007 in Beit Jala when a group of young men set up the first Palestinian Rugby Team (see link) with the help of Kevin Kelleher and Leam O’Brain who continue their current support from Ireland. The team consists of twelve official passionate players from the age of eighteen to twenty-eight. -- See also: www.beitjalalions.com more.. e-mail


Celebration of other voices
Ayelet Dekel, Ha’aretz 10/3/2008

"My poem is in classic Arabic. I hope someone will understand it," said Wael Ahmad Ammoorah, a Lebanese-Jordanian poet visiting Israel for the first time as part of the three-day Sha’ar International Poetry Festival, which was held last month and organized by Helicon - the Society for the Advancement of Poetry in Israel. Icelandic, Chinese and Dutch were among the languages heard in quick succession as the festival opened with a "world tour" of 14 poets reading in 12 different languages. The auditorium was filled with an audience eager for dialogue, attentive to the music and emotion of the poets’ voices. In the outside courtyard of Tel Aviv’s Inbal Ethnic Theater stood a poetry "tree," with poems hanging from its branches, swaying in the nighttime breeze, beckoning passersby to linger a little and read. more.. e-mail


Relationships of self, state and suffering among big questions at new art show
Ma’an News Agency 9/29/2008

Bethlehem – Ma’an – A cooperative art project titled “id - Identity of the Soul” is scheduled to have its global debut in Palestine this October. Begun before Darwish’s death on 9 August, the show will memorialize the ideas of the poet, who was buried in Ramallah on 13 August amidst throngs of Palestinian and international mourners. Among the central questions to be raised by the performance are those about the individual and their relationship with the state. The multidisciplinary art show combines archival film footage, new cinematic creations, live dance, music and poetry presented on a stage surrounded by five 8x5 meter screens, and inspired by the works of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, andNorwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The show was put together by the Oslo-based branch of the UK Arts Alliance, and inspired by two principal works. more.. e-mail


Cairo-based American acoustic trio wraps up West Bank tour
Ma’an News Agency 9/26/2008

Bethlehem – Ma’an – The United States Consulate in Jerusalem once again brought an American music act to cities in the West Bank, keeping with its annual Ramadan tradition. This year, the Ramadan program headlined Cairo-based American acoustic trio The Fuuls, which performed its self-described “Americana set” at live shows in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. Musicians on guitar, sax, dobro and bass, along with vocals—some new, others borrowed from classic rockers like David Bowie and the Rolling Stones—kicked off the concert portion of the program at an at-capacity public concert in Ramallah on Monday. Post-Iftar performances in Jerusalem and Beit Sahour followed on Tuesday and Wednesday, while workshops were conducted in Nablus and Bethlehem between shows. The band’s renditions of rock and country songs intrigued Palestinian audiences at a Tuesday show near Bethlehem. more.. e-mail


Classic in a modern tone
Rania Khallaf, Al-Ahram Weekly 9/25/2008

Rania Khallaf tunes in to the modern voice of Sayed Darwish - It took only few years for Eskendrella to acquire its fame and an audience. Formed like many other musical groups in Egypt in 2005, the band with its focus on Sayed Darwish and Sheikh Imam Eissa’s music immediately clicked with audiences of all ages. My first encounter with the band was just a few months after their first performance at Saqiyat Al-Sawy. Three years is not a long time to allow for assessment, but one could say that the band has truly succeeded in attracting more and more audiences of all walks of life, including foreigners, in Cairo. The name Eskendrella is a mix of " Eskendria ", the colloquial name for Alexandria, and Cinderella. "We find it an attractive and expressive name. "It tells much about us: we are the Cinderella of modern singing and Eskendria is our beloved city, where Sayed Darwish was born," says Shadi Mo’ness, oud player and one of the founders of the band. more.. e-mail


US Fulbrighter promotes peace through music with Palestinian-Israeli band
Ma’an News Agency 9/22/2008

Jerusalem -Ma’an/Agencies – To cap off his year as a Fulbright-MTV scholar, Aaron Shneyer presided over a special concert at Jerusalem’s International YMCA on 21 September, International Peace Day. The concert brought together Israeli and Palestinian musicians who participated in Mr. Shneyer’s “Heartbeat Project,” conducted with support from the US government’s Fulbright program. Under the “Heartbeat Project,” Mr Shneyer reached out to young Palestinian and Israeli musicians to invite them to joint jam sessions on a weekly basis over the course of many months in order to form a joint Israeli-Palestinian band. Mr Shneyer described the sessions as an opportunity to “come together each week to experience and explore music’s power to bring people together and create meaningful social change. ”He said the young musicians “have taught each other makamat and blues scales, they have written. . . more.. e-mail


Ethereal entertainment makes its way down Hamra Street
Special to The Daily Star, Daily Star 9/4/2008

BEIRUT: You can hear Cie le SAMU making their way along Hamra Street long before you can see them. The jazz music of the four-piece band works its way along the boulevard, swelling the sense of anticipation among the small crowd waiting at the Hamra Center square. A drummer leads three other musicians, trundling her drum-kit along on a specially fitted trolley. Behind her, the three men play brass instruments as they follow behind the beat. As they reach the square, the performance of "A bout de Souffle" truly begins. The musicians sit down beside customers at a neighboring cafe, playing their instruments from the chairs lining the pavement. At this close range, it becomes possible to notice the details in their costumes and the hair that has been powered gray before its time - designed to give an impression of age, which the players played upon repeatedly throughout their performance. more.. e-mail


Haredim move to eradicate ’foreign’ pop
Matthew Wagner, Jerusalem Post 9/2/2008

Musicians who use rock, rap, reggae and trance influences will not receive rabbinic approval for their CDs, nor will they be allowed to play in wedding halls under haredi kosher food supervision, according to a new, detailed list of guidelines drafted with rabbinical backing that differentiates between "kosher" and "treif" music. The guidelines, which are still being formulated, also ban "2-4 beats and other rock and disco beats;" the "improper" use of electric bass, guitars and saxophones; and singing words from holy sources in a disrespectful, frivolous manner. "Michael Jackson-style music has no place in our community," says Mordechai Bloi, a senior member of the Guardians of Sanctity and Education, an organization based in Bnei Brak that enforces what it sees as normative haredi behavior. "We might be able to adopt Bach or Beethoven, music with class, but not goyishe African music and beats. more.. e-mail


The Voice of Mahmoud Darwish
Ibtisam Barakat, Middle East Online 8/15/2008

COLUMBIA, Missouri – On Saturday August 9th in the afternoon, I was getting ready to give a talk about Palestinian olive trees to a gathering of authors and thinkers at Keystone College in Pennsylvania. For the title of the presentation, I cracked the word olive in two, and turned it into O’ Live! But death mocked me. Shortly before I left my room for the talk, the phone rang. It was my friend, musician Saed Muhssin, calling me from San Francisco. His voice was deep like a valley, barely climbing up to speak: “Have you heard? ” he asked. “This is hard news,” he warned. “Mahmoud Darwish died today. ” My mind cried. My heart ached with all of the unhealed Palestinian losses that are recalled with each new loss—losses Darwish made sure to record in his poetry. I belong there. I have many memories, Darwish wrote. Memories that he recorded in at least 30 books of poetry and prose, translated into at least 20 languages. more.. e-mail


Mahmoud Darwish: Palestinian ’poet of the resistance’
The Independent 8/11/2008

The poet Mahmoud Darwish was the voice of the Palestinian odyssey, whose stark writing reflected the desperation and alienation of the Palestinian people. He published more than 20 collections of poetry, which have been translated into many languages (although few of them into English), and was the Arab world’s best-selling poet. His poems are engraved in the hearts of millions of Palestinians and his words have been shouted by anti-occupation demonstrators in the streets of Ramallah, Damascus and Cairo. Many have been set to music, including "I yearn for my mother’s bread. " Mahmoud Darwish was born in 1941 in al Birweh, an Arab village in the Acre region which became part of the new state of Israel in 1948. His family fled to Lebanon, although they returned the following year. Darwish published his first poetry collection, Asafir bila ajniha ("Wingless Birds", 1960) while still a teenager and soon made a reputation as a "poet of the resistance". more.. e-mail


200 to be married in Khan Younis Mass wedding
Ma’an News Agency 7/31/2008

Gaza - Ma’an - A mass wedding, that will see 200 brides and grooms married, will take place in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening. The event is organised by the Islamic charity association. Ahmed Abu E’layan the Chairman of the Committee supervising the ceremony said, "were eager to carry out this wedding ceremony successfully, it is a great event in Khan Younis. " The celebration will be held at the city’s Tennis Club where scouts will play music for the festival after the prayer at the Grand Mosque in Khan Younis. The organizers called on all Palestinian people living in the Gaza Strip to participate in this huge wedding which is the first of its kind in Khan Younis. more.. e-mail


Medical Aid for Palestine Concert in London
Mary Rizzo, Palestine Think Tank 7/23/2008

Hear wonderful musicians, have a marvelous night out, and contribute to humanitarian projects that help Palestinian people to develop rehabilitation centres, health care facilities and places of aggregation for youth. MAP siteTUES JULY 29TH @ THE 606 CLUB 7. 30 pm London Call 0207 352 5953 to book a table for dinnerTickets £15 www. 606club. comJoin us for a gala night of eclectic music, gastronomic delights & surprise special guests! Proceeds will go to aid those suffering in Palestine & refugee camps in the region. MAP UK registered charity no: 1045315 Celloman Sensuous, funky flights of melody from an extraordinary cello virtuoso. Ivan Hussey has featured on countless hits & albums including the work of Mick Jagger, Maxi Priest & Incognito. Tonight he performs his stunning, solo set fusing middle-eastern sounds with classical melodies to hair-raising effect. more.. e-mail


Improvising to the sound of slamming door
Dalila Mahdawi, Daily Star 7/24/2008

BEIRUT: Jazz may not be the first genre that comes to mind when eavesdropping on Beirut’s music scene. An evening stuck in traffic adjacent the city’s multitude of night spots suggests the standard fare ranges from traditional Middle Eastern melodies - from divas like Fairuz and Umm Kulthoum to pop tarts like Haifa Wehbe - to the Western pop, rap and electronica preferred by some younger folk. That said, if you’ve strolled through popular quarters like Hamra or Gemayzeh over the last few months, you may have heard the sound of upbeat, sonorous jazz rhythms percolating from venues like the Zawaya and Blue Note cafes or BarLouie. If so, Beirut Be Bop! may be to blame. The most-recent addition to the city’s venerable tradition of hybrid jazz ensembles, this laidback group has been a mutable musical feast since it first saw the light of day last September. more.. e-mail


Palestine Youth Orchestra rehearses for regional tour focusing on Jerusalem
Palestine News Network 7/20/2008

Ramallah / PNN - The Palestine Youth Orchestra of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music is in the midst of their training in preparation for a round of musical performances in Palestine, Jordan and Syria. The training is taking place at Ramallah’s Birzeit University in a type of summer camp between 17 and 26 July. For the tour and local performances they will accompany an orchestra from the University of Bonn in Germany. Eighty young musicians are rehearsing a program that will tour regionally under the title, "Jerusalem is the Song. "The Palestine Youth Orchestra has already played three times in Amman, Jordan, culminating in last year’s performance in Bonn. This year will be different because the focus is on Jerusalem. The Director of the Bonn project said, "My mission in Palestine has a different target. more.. e-mail


Al Muharraqi painting exhibition in Abu Dhabi
Middle East Online 7/16/2008

ABU DHABI - The Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation in association with Meem Gallery, Ghaf Art Gallery and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage, proudly present an exhibition of the works of Abdulla Al Muharraqi, featuring a journey with the artist. Abdulla Al Muharraqi is recognized as being the founding father of Modern Arab Art in The Gulf. Born in Bahrain, his work is held in the highest esteem by the leading collectors throughout the GCC. The artist specializes in depicting local Gulf scenes and traditions, mingling realism with warmth. Muharraqi shares Bahrain and the Gulf with the world through his paintings. Over the years, he has painted more than one thousand oils, seventy of which he keeps as part of his private collection. His works, whether in romantic realism or simple cubism, reflect a style that’s instantly recognizable by art connoisseurs. more.. e-mail


Living alongside the enemy
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 7/10/2008

Coexistence projects bring Jews and Arabs together within Israel, but it is much harder to bridge the larger gap between Israel and the Palestinian territories - In the circles of Middle East peacemaking it is called "coexistence", the often difficult and usually pioneering work that brings together Jews and Arabs, treats them as equals and tries to bridge their differences. Within Israel it still happens a lot, despite the terrible violence of the second intifada and the flagging political peace process. There are organisations that run bilingual Jewish-Arabic schools, including one in Jerusalem. There are joint business projects, musical ventures and even comedy shows. In Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, the small Yaffa cafe and bookshop became the first store in the mixed Jewish and Arab city to sell Arabic books since 1948. more.. e-mail


The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah hosts prestigious Marcel Khalife contest this week
Ma’an News Agency 7/5/2008

Ramallah – Ma’an – The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah is hosting the Marcel Khalife Music Competition this year. 2008 marks the first time in the competition’s history that Arabic song will be included as a category. The song competitions will be held on Sunday 6 July. Other divisions include Arabic instrumental music, piano, winds, strings and guitar. Besides the instrumental and vocal divisions, musicians are divided up in to four groups for age and ability, with participants from ages 6 to 30. Each division has a cash prize of between 100 and 1,000 USD. According to Buthayna Hamdan, media coordinator of the Conservatory, the singing competition could open new horizons for the local music scene, since there are many excellent singers who have not had the chance to be recognized. more.. e-mail


Soothing the Savage Breast
Sanford F. Kuvin, MIFTAH 7/5/2008

Can music be an instrument for peace? That’s what the Sounding Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival hopes for, as it offers some of the season’s best free live classical music in the city. The festival brings together 75 top European, Israeli and Arab musicians for over 20 concerts to mixed audiences in a wide variety of venues – churches in the Old City, historic sites in West Jerusalem and Palestinian villages. In spite of the obvious difficulties entailed in having concerts on both sides of the Green Line, the festival, which runs through 5 July, offers a decent intercultural opportunity for Jews, Christians and Arabs to share the borderless atmosphere of music at its best. The individual behind this initiative is the Austrian cellist Erich Oskar Huetter. With funding from the European Union, this extraordinarily talented musician has embarked on a seemingly mission-impossible task of bringing more.. e-mail


Soothing the savage breast
Sanford F. Kuvin, Ha’aretz 6/26/2008

Can music be an instrument for peace? That’s what the Sounding Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival hopes for, as it offers some of the season’s best free live classical music in the city. The festival brings together 75 top European, Israeli and Arab musicians for over 20 concerts to mixed audiences in a wide variety of venues - churches in the Old City, historic sites in West Jerusalem and Palestinian villages. In spite of the obvious difficulties entailed in having concerts on both sides of the Green Line, the festival, which runs through July 5, offers a decent intercultural opportunity for Jews, Christians and Arabs to share the borderless atmosphere of music at its best. The individual behind this initiative is the Austrian cellist Erich Oskar Huetter. With funding from the European Union, this extraordinarily talented musician has embarked on a seemingly mission-impossible. . . more.. e-mail


Jazz is my Jihad
Haitham Sabbah, Palestine Think Tank 6/20/2008

Jazz musician Gilad Atzmon reflects upon his roots and his inspiration and how his activities as a supporter of the Palestinian cause and his art influence one another. His music can be seen as an integral part of his political message. It’s not sloganeering or repeating formulas, but it can be seen as a weaving and unweaving of threads, digging into the reservoir of personal and collective dreams, hopes and fears. This British documentary, "Jazz is my Jihad" presents a viewpoint into the artistic and personal journey undertaken by Gilad Atzmon. [end]


American rapper Snoop Dogg slated to perform in Ramat Gan
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 6/13/2008

The demand for foreign stars to perform in Israeli venues is rising, and this demand is being met by local entertainment producers and accompanied by high ticket prices. A wave of American artists is meant to arrive in Israel this summer and upcoming fall to perform before a music-thirsty Israeli audience. According to his official website, world renowned rapper Snoop Dogg is due to perform in Israel on September 18th. Snoop Dogg joins an impressive list of foreign stars that have either visited Israel over the past year or are scheduled to arrive in the coming months. R eports have indicated that the American rapper signed a contract with an Israeli agent who lives abroad, but still tried to extract higher offers from local entertainment producers in Israel. The Ramat Gan stadium where Snoop Dogg is expected to perform declined comment. more.. e-mail


Thousands attend 10th annual Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv
Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 6/7/2008

Gay Pride paradeThousands of people attended the tenth annual Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv Friday, to celebrate the gay community’s struggle for equality and to christen the center for the gay community situated in the city’s Meir park (Gan Meir). "The center symbolizes an amazing turning point in the history of the gay community, and our activities will now have fertile ground from which to grow and flourish," Army Radio quoted one of the parade participants as saying. The Tel Aviv municipality donated NIS 250,000 for the event, which was scheduled to commence at 12 P. M. at Gan Meir. The parade was then to head out toward Bograshov Street, turning onto Ben Yehuda Steet, then Ben Gurion Boulevard and finally ending at Gordon beach, where a host of musicians such as Ivri Lider, Maya Buskila and Keren Peles were set to perform followed by a party on into the night. more.. e-mail


World Council of Churches to create living clock: 60 minutes for 60 years of Al Nakba
Palestine News Network 6/6/2008

Bethlehem / PNN - Beginning at 6:30 pm on Sunday, the World Council of Churches will host what it refers to as a "Living Clock." A circle will be created in Manager Square between the Church of Nativity and the Bethlehem Mosque marking 60 years of Al Nakba. At least that many people will be in attendance, creating 60 minutes for 60 years. The World Council of Churches program follows:The arrival and setup: 18:301. Loudspeaker: music It’s Time for Palestine 2. People carrying numbers 1-60 form a circle, with the numbers 41 and 60 colored in red. To form the circle they initially hold each other’s hand. The central point of the clock is indicated on the ground with chalk. We will care that different ages are represented in the circle. 3. 20-23 more people will form a hand, carrying the letters It’s Time for Palestine. more.. e-mail


Rolling with the Na Nachs, the most high-spirited and newest Hasidic sect
Adam Molner, Ha’aretz 5/25/2008

There is no escaping them. They have left their mark everywhere in Israel, in the form of a cryptic mantra painted in bold Hebrew lettering on security fences, sleek skyscrapers, graveyard walls, freeway billboards and sheer mountain cliffs. Dressed in characteristic woven white skullcaps, adherents perform leaping dances on street corners in the secular bastion of Tel Aviv, to techno-Hassidic music blasting from vans bearing the slogan "Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me’uman," which has informally lent its name to the newest of Hasidic sects. The Na Nachs, as some of the group call themselves, are an offshoot of the Bratslav Hassidim, followers of the late Rebbe Nachman (1772-1810), great-grandson of the founder of Hasidism. But what separates Na Nachs from other Bratslavers is their belief that a mysterious letter found in 1962 by Rabbi Israel. . . more.. e-mail


Bethlehem University student elections: Fateh clear winner before polls even opened
Palestine News Network 4/16/2008

Kristen Ess - The polls finally closed as of late Wednesday afternoon in the most obnoxious student elections to date at Bethlehem University. Fateh won 18 seats and gunshots were fired as students cheered and music blasted in the streets. Days upon days of students chanting, "Shabiba, Shabiba, Shabiba!" the Fateh Youth Party, in the streets and on campus, have left the university district with a collective headache. They are taking full advantage of the larger current political strife. Students are walking through neighbor’s gardens, sporting their party gear. Since early this morning the University has blasted disco music. They are still shouting, "Shabiba!" Palestinian Authority security has the streets cordoned off. The Hamas party boycotted the entire affair. Certainly they knew they had no chance at winning, considering the international campaign against the party at large. more.. e-mail


ADACH presents live tribute to Arabic music
Middle East Online 4/16/2008

ABU DHABI - The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) organizes for the first time ever in the Emirati capital, a festival of Arabic music which will be held May 1-6, 2008 at the Cultural Foundation. The ADACH has chosen 2008 as the first year of a modest beginning, which aims to offer an eclectic mix of sounds and styles from a uniquely complex musical heritage. The ADACH aims to make the festival an annual event, to expand and ensure the artistic calendar of every music lover in the Arab World includes Abu Dhabi every May. The first evening belongs to Omar Khairat, the second to the Al Fayha Choir, the third to Furat Qaddouri and Tariq & Julia Banzi, the fourth to Jahida Wehbe, the fifth to Rida Popular Arts Group and Nadia Mustafa and the final evening to Farida. Encompassing a history of more than two thousand years, the music of the Arabs is unique among the world’s various musical cultures. more.. e-mail


Ramallah hair show defies occupation
Kristen Ess, Palestine News Network 4/9/2008

The beat goes on in a Ramallah hair show, but without Gaza. The stage is filled with young women having their hair cut by what many consider to be artists. The announcer is shouting to be heard over the pounding disco music, "This is Palestine!" The stylist on display is from Nablus. There are people at this hair show, invite only, from inside the 1948, Israeli, boundaries, from Syria’s occupied Golan Heights even. But the Gazans did not come. They were not allowed. It’s a hair show, a fashion show; it’s something to ensure that more people who care about hair cuts, and a certain semblance of normalcy, might have work as the economy continues to plummet due to Israeli occupation measures. The director of the entire program takes a minute from his front row seat to speak about what is the point of this event. more.. e-mail


Marcel Khalifa and Edward Said Conservatory support Palestinian music scene
Palestine News Network 3/21/2008

PNN -- The Marcel Khalifa annual competition is accepting applications for July 2008. Although many Palestinians cannot attend the competition due to Israeli-imposed travel restrictions, musicians are finding their way around it. "We will use a closed circuit television system for the musicians who are not allowed to enter Jerusalem: those from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as musicians from the Golan Heights," representatives of the Edward Said Conservatory of Music announced on Friday. The Conservatory was established in 1993 and has centers in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah with some 550 students. They study classical, eastern and western styles of music. This year’s competition will include several categories in this prestigious event, including Eastern, Piano, Strings and Guitar. New to the categories this year is Arabic Singing. more.. e-mail


Striking an ancient chord
Hagai Hitron, Ha’aretz 2/14/2008

Sounds, archaeological finds and scientific hypotheses all play major roles in an exhibition entitled "Sounds of Ancient Music," which opened last week at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. Focusing on musical developments in ancient Sumeria, Babylon, Assyria and other cultures of the Ancient Near East, through the periods of the Kingdom of Judea, Greece and the Roman Empire, the exhibition features 137 objects - among them, rare musical instruments that have been preserved from antiquity, as well as full-sized replicas of instruments from those early eras. Among other items on display are a flute, fragments of which were discovered in a burial cave in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem and dating back to the Second Temple period, as well as the well-known stone from that same period bearing the inscription, "To the House of Trumpeting to the k. more..


Israeli universities cease researching Palestinian musicology
Tamara Traubmann, Ha’aretz 1/24/2008

Professors emeritae Dalia Cohen and Ruth Katz began studying Palestinian music in the 1960s. While Israel’s Arab population was still under military rule, they traveled to the villages of the Galilee and the Triangle and recorded performances of traditional music. The music was passed down in an oral tradition and was rarely written down. In their laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the musicologists developed the Jerusalem, or Cohen-Katz, Melograph. This mechanical musical transcription device created a graph that provided precise information about the pitch, duration and volume of sounds. "Notation is a Western system of writing that refers to Western musical materials," Cohen explains. "Most non-Western cultures do not have a notation system, and we don’t know exactly what the raw materials of the music are." more..


With medieval manuscripts forgotten, musicology goes into in drug rehab
Tamara Traubmann, Ha’aretz 1/24/2008

Professors emeritae Dalia Cohen and Ruth Katz began studying Palestinian music in the 1960s. While Israel’s Arab population was still under military rule, they traveled to the villages of the Galilee and the Triangle and recorded performances of traditional music. The music was passed down in an oral tradition and was rarely written down. In their laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the musicologists developed the Jerusalem, or Cohen-Katz, Melograph. This mechanical musical transcription device created a graph that provided precise information about the pitch, duration and volume of sounds." Notation is a Western system of writing that refers to Western musical materials," Cohen explains. "Most non-Western cultures do not have a notation system, and we don’t know exactly what the raw materials of the music are." more..


Palestinian hip-hop doc premieres at Sundance
Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 1/22/2008

PARK CITY, Utah: The Palestinian hip-hop group DAM, which has spawned a cult following and a small army of imitators, stars in a new film about the underground music scene in the Middle East, which premiered on Friday at the Sundance Film Festival. "Slingshot Hip Hop," by director Jackie Salloum, offers a peek into contemporary life in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Middle East hip-hop culture inspired by the political positions of American rappers such as Chuck D, Tupac Shakur and Eminem. Rapper Mahmoud Shalabi, from the village of Akka, is featured in the documentary, as is female hip-hop duo Arapeyat. The movie also highlights the work of the group Palestinian Rapperz (PR) among others. In the film, Palestinian rap groups offer an alternative form of resistance against the Israeli occupation. Some critics suggest that the new music simply reinforces longstanding cultural differences. more..


Local music man picks up where war cut him off
Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Daily Star 1/11/2008

Interview BEIRUT: The Lebanese capital is littered with the remains of young companies and upstart arts initiatives that broke up and fell apart during the war with Israel 18 months ago. One of the more obvious among them is the Beirut edition of Time Out, the monthly arts and entertainment magazine that published its first issue in April 2006 and its last in July 2006. The young magazine ceased publication when the bombardment and siege began and never resumed. Another casualty, less commonly commented upon but similar in that funders fleeing the country precipitated its closure, is the local music label Mooz Records, which was the hottest thing happening in Beirut two years ago and is now no more - though the spirit behind it might just be revived next week with the debut of a monthly music festival dubbed Beirut Is A-Live. more..


Jumping into cold water
Tamar Sukenik, Ha’aretz 1/3/2008

Last week the character played by Mira Awad appeared for the first time on Sayed Kashua’s "Arab Labor" TV series on Channel 2. But the attention of the 32-year-old actress is already focused elsewhere. In guitarist Amos Hadani’s small studio in downtown Tel Aviv she is completing the recording of her debut album, which will comprise songs whose lyrics and music she has written herself, mostly in Arabic. The long road she has traveled until arriving at the final stages of the album began during her days as a student at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat Hasharon. "Eight years ago I already had demos ready and I tried to interest several people in them. But it didn’t really work out, and at a certain stage I got tired of trying and abandoned music for a number of years," she recalls. more..


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